Chapter 16.: The colour of things. Pigments and colours in Neolithic Çatalhöyük

FGW – Publications not associated with a particular research are

Chapter 14.: Disentangling Neolithic cuisine: archaeological evidence for 9,000-year-old food preparation practices and cooking techniques at Çatalhöyük East

FGW – Publications not associated with a particular research are

Chapter 9.: The complexity of open spaces at Çatalhöyük

FGW – Publications not associated with a particular research are

Abrasive and impact wear of stone used to manufacture axes in Neolithic Greece

Excavations at the Neolithic settlement at Makriyalos in Northern Greece brought to light a large number of stone axe heads, the majority of which were manufactured from serpentinite and igneous rocks. Detailed study of the manufacturing traces on the archaeological implements identified that both percussive (pecking) and abrasive techniques (sawing and grinding/polishing) were employed for the production of the axes. There is limited evidence, however, of how these processes may have been undertaken. The aim of this work was to build on previous research investigating sawing and polishing methods and the materials that may have been used in these tasks. Modern samples of two types of serpentinite and a dolerite were collected from the environs of the archaeological site. These were tested for strength and porosity. Through archaeological research the materials available to Neolithic people were established and some testing was carried out to establish sliding speeds and loads and percussive impact velocities achievable by a human to feed into the tribological test design. Pin-on-disc wear tests were carried out using quartz, chalcedony and sandstone as the pin material in wet and dry conditions to study sawing and polishing behaviour. Reciprocating tests were carried out using leather and combinations of lubricant (animal fat and water) and abrasive medium (sand) to study effects on polishing. Percussive impact tests were also carried out. The tests indicated that with certain combinations of materials and test conditions, both sawing and polishing could be achieved. A series of stages for the polishing were identified which are in line with observations made by archaeologists. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Aesthetic, Social, and Material Networks: A Perspective from the Flint Daggers at Çatalhöyük, Turkey

Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)Artefact studie

Influence of grinding on the preservation of starch grains from rice

China is a major centre for rice domestication, where starch grain analysis has been widely applied to archaeological grinding tools to gain information about plant use by ancient Chinese societies. However, few rice starch grains have been identified to date. To understand this apparent scarcity of starch grains from rice, dry- and wet-grinding experiments with stone tools were carried out on four types of cereals: rice (Oryza sativa L.), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The results reveal that dry-grinding produces significant damage to starches to the point where they may be undetected in archaeological samples, while wet-grinding causes only slight morphological changes to the starch grains. Moreover, rice starch grains have the most substantial alterations from dry-grinding, possibly impeding their identification. These findings provide a possible means to explain the relative scarcity of rice starch grains recovered from archaeological grinding tools, which it is suggested was caused by the use of the dry-grinding technique. Therefore, it is suggested that rice starch grains have been likely underrepresented in the archaeological record, and previous interpretations of starch analyses need to be reconsidered.Material Culture Studie

Plant Foods and Different Uses of Grinding Tools at the Neolithic Site of Tanghu in Central China

In the central plain of China, grinding tools are a common category of artefacts at sites attributed to the Peiligang Culture (c. 9000-7000 BP). This paper focuses on the grinding tool assemblage from the site of Tanghu, the largest Peiligang Culture settlement yet discovered. The results from the microwear and residue analyses both suggest that cereals were the primary plant material processed with the grinding tools. Other plants, including acorns and underground storage organs, were also processed, but probably to a smaller extent. Furthermore, microwear analysis suggests that the dry-grinding technique was adopted for cereal processing, and a piece of hide or animal skin was placed underneath the grinding slabs to gather the processed plant material. Apart from plant food processing, one of the grinding tools was also involved in processing bone. These data put more insights into the Neolithic culinary practices and different uses of grinding tools in this region.Archaeological sciencesMaterial Culture Studies and Computer Science

Cereal processing technique inferred from use-wear analysis at the Neolithic site of Jiahu, Central China

Studies investigating different food processing techniques have shed light on the dietary habits and subsistence strategies adopted by prehistoric populations. They have shown that grinding cereals into flour has taken place since the Palaeolithic period, yet the grinding method employed has often not been investigated. The analysis presented here identified different types of use-wear traces associated with the dry-grinding and wet-grinding of cereals, which can be used to infer prehistoric grinding techniques. Applying this reference baseline to Jiahu, an early Neolithic site known for the earliest findings of domesticated rice in the central plain of China, reveals that dry-grinding rather than wet-grinding was employed for cereal (including rice) processing 9000 years ago. This grinding method could have been inherited from the earlier hunter-gatherers, but could also result from a broad-spectrum subsistence strategy adopted at Jiahu. By comparing the properties and ethnographic uses of different plant species, it is also suggested that cereals such as rice were a more sensible choice for the dry-grinding process.Material Culture Studie